Greetings Friends!
That’s right; it’s a new season, and a new writer! I’m Eva, and you’ll be hearing from me a lot this season! I am 20 years young and a junior at Messiah College, studying Psychology. This is my fourth year in Shining Light and my third year as a small group leader.
Though we already miss our retired members, we wish them all the best and our prayers follow them in each of their respective directions. We have confidence that they will thrive and continue to grow in faith through all their pursuits and look forward to their potential return to see our public shows (HINT HINT)! Personally it has been an adventure just staying in the group when so many of my close friends have come to the end of their SL journey. A challenge, but an exciting challenge that is surely helping me grow as a member and a leader. Those who remain will not forget the memories we built together. Together we all added to the great growing culture that is Shining Light, and are forever a part of this ministry.
I digress, we’re already two rehearsals in, and the new energy is infectious from our new members! The first rehearsal was lots of fun and helped us get to know our new peers. I was impressed with how quickly all our members (new and old) picked up on the choreography and vocals for our exciting new celebration song! It’s awesome, and I am excited to see how it all works together in the show!
This Sunday we brushed up on some of last season’s songs. Though the new members are clearly feeling overwhelmed, it was comforting and encouraging to see those among us continually supporting them and reassuring them that it gets easier. It was also great to see that even though it was completely foreign to them, they were still trying! Our new guys are still being timid but that’s understandable.
This Sunday at rehearsal we also had our first small groups session. It was wonderful to get back into that type of community! I’ll warn you, it will be evident in my writing that I have a huge love for small group time. So after a summer of Shining Light withdrawal (so to speak) it was awesome to get introduced to my new group of girls! I am hopeful that the season will be fruitful and a real place for them to feel comfortable. After all that is a crucial part of Shining Light– being a safe place to really bounce ideas around and wrestle with the hard things in life, and to hold each other accountable for our choices. I am eager to jump into the lessons this year and really challenge the girls to think and assess their faith and how it affects their lives every day.
This coming week we have our auditions for the dramas as well as solos! I am so excited to see our new members or maybe returning members (who’ve finally worked up the courage) come out and help contribute specifically to our show! I am eager to see what each person brings to the roles, or songs. In only a few short weeks we’ll be on stage in front of Teen Challenge, which is so exciting, but hard to see at this point. There seems to be so much left to do before it is possible! Thankfully God always provides all things, especially time!
I’m sure that we’re all mutually thankful for God’s provision, especially now that school has begun and some of us students are already beginning to feel a little stressed and stretched thin. Time is one thing we can all continually pray for and be thankful for!
Sorry for the lengthy post! I’ll be aiming for one post a week and to keep them relatively short, though with the business of life, I will promise neither.
I hope everyone’s week is going splendidly! And you are all finding joy and peace in the beautiful weather we’ve been having as fall approaches!
Peace & blessings,
Eva
Beautiful Eva! Glad to have some blogs to read again!